How did we get started?

Our founder, Keith Heller, started working in the fundraising department of San Francisco's Exploratorium, the nation's first hands-on science center. It was 1993 and he used the DOS version of Raiser's Edge® to keep their membership program organized. Working at the Exploratorium he discovered he loved to use technology to do things better.

Keith left the Exploratorium after a year and a half and continued working with organizational development consultants. Fascinated by both technology and the benefits he saw in streamlining business operations that for-profit organizations realized in their work with OD professionals, he decided he wanted bring those benefits to nonprofits. He leapt at the opportunity to help some Bay Area organizations make the transition from the DOS to Windows versions of Raiser's Edge.

That was in 1996 and the rest, as they say, is history. Since then, we've served over 700 clients and the number grows every month.

Why do we work on Raiser's Edge? Why fundraising technology and operations?

Because we love making things more efficient and we're a little bit geeky. (Okay, maybe more than a little.) Interestingly, our consultants don't come from technical backgrounds. In fact, with the exception of our programmer, none of us have technical degrees.

We were all humanities majors in college (History, English, American Studies, Women's Studies, and Religion). In each organization we worked in we became the “go-to” person for technology and the ones obsessed with making things work more smoothly. What our liberal arts educations cultivated in each of us was the ability to think broadly, communicate, and appreciate the value of curiosity and continuous learning.

We put those traits to work for you in how we approach our projects. Often we serve as the “translators” between fundraising technology and the fundraisers who drive the success of a development department.

Why do we work for non-profits? Why not consult in the for-profit sector?

Each of us has worked in nonprofits and has chosen to continue to serve this community. We could do similar work in the for-profit sector and perhaps be richer materially. We do this work because we believe that helping you to be more effective will allow your organization to thrive.

We believe that the most important initiatives in our society – education, healthcare, the arts, social justice, poverty reduction, environmental, animal and human rights advocacy – are being driven by nonprofits. Serving this community brings us daily rewards, a good night's sleep and a sense of participation and purpose.

If no one's said it recently, thank you for the work you do to improve our lives. And thank you for letting us be part of that.

To discuss how your organization can use Raiser's Edge better, please call Keith Heller at 510-841-4222 x 466 or submit an Info Request Form.